All the best jazz singers are master musicians and storytellers. This class will focus on developing our skills as singers, musicians, artists and song interpreters. Developing better performance skills will help:

Make your singing more relaxed

Increase your ability to "connect" with the audience

Build your confidence and lower your stress level

Help calm pre-performance jitters

What musical skills and techniques can we acquire to make our performance more charismatic, more engaging and more in tune with who we are and what we want to express as artists? How do we craft a performance that is, in the words of the venerable I Ching, "like an arrow" flying towards our artistic goal?

We'll choose a few songs and get to know them intimately

We'll work with an accompanist and with a trio to create custom arrangements

We’ll do lots of singing and get useful and informative feedback

We'll work on better understanding of jazz rhythm and phrasing

We’ll prepare a set together with our accompanist and present it for the jazzschool student concert

Working with other musicians in a bandleading role is another focus for this class. We'll cover:

Communicating with the band

Clear chart writing

Developing arrangements

Song form

Rhythm and improvisational skills

Lots of singing

Class size limit: 6
Prerequisite: Consultation with Maye

Private teaching (more)

Taking private classes allows us to focus on just the skills that you are interested in developing. I have experience teaching vocal technique, musicianship, performance skills, repetoire development, style and many other aspects of developing your art. I can provide you with tailor made warm-up CD's. We often record during our lessons so you can work on microphone technique and also have a chance to hear how you are progressing. I have a huge library of music and can frequently provide you with charts and leadsheets for your songs in your key as well as practice CD's for study. I believe that studying music should be enjoyable and that you should recognize tangible resutls quickly.

Composer Wokshop Series (more)

"It Could Happen to You" Jimmy VanHeusen

Jimmy Van Heusen was a prolific composer who penned over 120 hit songs that have been recorded by countless artists. His frequent collaborator was Johnny Burke and together they gave us standards such as “Like Someone in Love,” “But Beautiful,” “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” and “Here’s That Rainy Day.” Another frequent collaborator was Sammy Cahn. Together they wrote many of the songs that defined Frank Sinatra’s career including “Come Fly With Me,” “All the Way,” and “My Kind of Town (Chicago)”. In this workshop we’ll explore and sing the music of Jimmy Van Heusen. We’ll also listen to how some jazz greats have interpreted these songs and get ideas for our own arrangements. Students are provided with 7 leadsheets for songs including practice-backing tracks. In the final week we’ll work with an accompanist and sing these songs trying out our own arrangement ideas

Concert Preparation at Jazzschool

Concert Preparation and Performance is an independent studies program designed for advanced vocalists who are ready to present a solo concert.